Celebrating Women-History of Hospice

National Women’s Month in the US is celebrated the month of March. This day has been marked by the United Nations since 1975 but was observed in smaller ways in the US as far back as 1911. Everyday women around the world leave their mark in this world through notable events and achievements. This is a time to celebrate women who realize their extraordinary potential.

Cicely Saunders born in 1918 founded St Christopher’s Hospice in London, the first purpose-built hospice. Hospice, as we know it today, began in 1967 in England from the mind and heart of Cicely who innately knew that death involved more than the cessation of the physical body. Cicely attended St Anne’s College in Oxford and in 1944 became a nurse. Although she worked in a field she loved, her heart still longed for more knowledge. She was tenacious, enthusiastic, and curious. She retuned to school in 1947 to become a Medical Social Worker. After working with cancer patients she was convinced there wasn’t enough being done for terminal patients. Once again she returned to education and in 1957 became a physician. She wrote her first book: Care of the Dying in 1960 and shortly after started Christopher’s Hospice.

Hospice care was about combining expert pain and symptom relief with a holistic approach-physical, social, psychological, and emotional needs are met of both patients and their families. Due to her groundbreaking work she received many awards and honors during her lifetime. The most prestigious came in 1979 when Cicely was elevated from an Officer of the British empire to knighthood and thus became Dame Cicely Sanders. In 2005 at the age of 87 Dame Cicely Saunders passed. When she died there were more than 8,000 hospices established throughout the world.